Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a substrate support assembly, more specifically, for an electrostatic chuck having an encapsulating member formed thereon with enhanced heat resistance suitable for use in a plasma processing chamber.
Description of the Related Art
Ultra-large-scale integrated (ULSI) circuits may include more than one million electronic devices (e.g., transistors) that are formed on a semiconductor substrate, such as a silicon (Si) substrate, and cooperate to perform various functions within the device. Typically, the transistors used in the ULSI circuits are complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) field effect transistors. A CMOS transistor has a gate structure comprising a polysilicon gate electrode and gate dielectric, and is disposed between a source region and drain regions that are formed in the substrate.
During manufacture of the integrated circuits, display devices or other semiconductor related products, a number of different chemical and physical processes are involved whereby minute transistor devices are created on a substrate. Layers of materials which make up the transistor devices are created by chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, epitaxial growth, and the like. Some of the layers of material are patterned using photoresist masks and wet or dry etching techniques. The substrate utilized to form transistor devices may be silicon, quartz, sapphire, gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, glass, or other appropriate material. In some applications, flexible substrates, polymer substrates or plastic substrates may also be utilized.
A typical plasma processing chamber includes a chamber body defining a process zone, a gas distribution assembly adapted to supply a gas from a gas supply into the process zone, a gas energizer, e.g., a plasma generator, utilized to energize the process gas used to process a substrate positioned on a substrate support assembly, and a gas exhaust. The substrate support assembly may include an electrostatic chuck that holds the substrate to the substrate support assembly during processing. Conventionally, for a thin substrate process, such as a substrate having a thickness less than 200 μm, an electrostatic chuck configured for low temperature processing is often used. The low temperature processing electrostatic chuck includes a laminated structure having a polymer-type underlayer, an electrode disposed on the polymer-type underlayer and a polymer-type encapsulating overlayer disposed on the electrode. This particular type of electrostatic chuck with polymer-type underlayer and polymer-type encapsulating overlayer is believed to be advantageous for processing thinned substrate for LED/OLED manufacturing, semiconductor manufactured on thin sapphire, touch screen/touch panel and other display device applications.
In high temperature plasma processing applications, the temperature within the chamber may be greater than 300 degrees Celsius. Conventional electrostatic chucks with polymer-type encapsulating layers may not be suitable for use in such high temperature processes as the high temperature of corrosive species generated during plasma may melt or erode the polymer-type layers, resulting in inconsistent or undesirable electrical properties of the chuck which adversely affects the chuck's ability to hold substrates. Typically, the electrostatic chuck with polymer-type encapsulating layers can only sustain process temperature less than 250 degrees Celsius without failure. Thus, it would be desirable to have an electrostatic chuck having enhanced heat resistance as well as the capability to chuck thin substrates during processing.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved electrostatic chuck that provides enhanced heat resistance during processing.